


Espresso and Cheesecake

by james



Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Jealousy, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-24
Updated: 2010-08-24
Packaged: 2017-10-11 05:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/109122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/pseuds/james
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toshiko is the only one not sleeping with a co-worker.  Set pre-series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Espresso and Cheesecake

She doesn't watch them come in; there is nothing to see as they pretend they didn't arrive at exactly the same time because they'd been in the parking garage making out, only partly hidden behind the SUV. Toshiko hears Suzie's nervous laughter and simply listens until her footsteps ring on the metal stairs and she's passed Tosh's workstation and into her own area.

Tosh doesn't bother nodding a good morning at her anymore. On mornings like this one Suzie's attention will be all on her work -- as she tries to make up for the fact she's spent the night with Owen.

As though anyone would care, Tosh thinks to herself, stabbing at the keyboard of her computer. As though Jack and Ianto aren't down two levels doing the same sorts of things; Ianto arriving impossibly early and Jack, as ever, present in the Hub. Tosh got to work that morning to find herself alone; a quick check of the internal monitors had show her the one camera with the privacy curtain drawn -- nothing she couldn't circumvent but she'd caught an eyeful of those two before, and that was sufficient.

It seems it's the morning for it, and if it weren't overcast and cold she would blame it on a sudden burst of springtime weather.

She doesn't care. She tells herself she _doesn't care_ as she scrolls past lines of code, glancing through them quickly to find the line that has broken since the last time she compiled. They can do whatever they like, and if what they like is each other....

She remembers the kiss Owen gave her, perfunctory and practically business-like, as though duty called and he was too much a gentleman to be called on dereliction. As though anyone would mistake Owen for a gentleman, Tosh thinks, trying to convince herself.

She doesn't watch him walk by on his way to get fresh water for tea. He clearly knows there will be no coffee until Ianto has emerged from below, and there is no point in hollering over the comms for him to hurry.

She tries not to imagine the look that will be on Jack's face. That is the image she recalls most vividly: Jack pressed back against the wall, Ianto on his knees in front of him. The gaping of Jack's mouth and his eyes open wide, staring at nothing. He'd looked like he'd been about to smile, the corners of his mouth twitching just so. Tosh isn't exactly sure why she thinks that. The porn she's watched has had plenty of men receiving blow jobs and none of them had ever _smiled._ Normally they look to be in a great deal of pain, which is why Tosh started filtering her porn to exclude blowjobs and restraints.

Restraints make her think too much of work, or of being led away in handcuffs and looked in a cell alone. Nothing she likes to associate with sex, thank you very much.

But she would swear that Jack had been about to smile, and she finds herself wondering if that's because it was real and not acted, and she has to bite her tongue against letting the question slip to Suzie as the other woman drops a file on her desk and gives her a brief look of greeting. Tosh doesn't bother giving her more than a distracted nod.

Does Owen smile when you have sex, she wants to ask. Does he talk to you. Do his hands linger. Does he roll over and fall asleep, dragging the sheets with him and leaving you forced to cuddle for warmth or leave the bed to find another blanket.

She stabs at the keyboard again, wiping a line of code from the screen and frantically typing in a new one. She does not want to know what Owen is like in bed. She doesn't want to know why Jack smiles. She doesn't want to know that on mornings like these Ianto will bring Jack a cup of coffee from his secret stash, a special blend that he's never divulged but which Jack sips slowly, lingering over every precious drop as though drinking it were sex itself.

Perhaps it is. Ianto's coffee is pretty damn fantastic. She's eaten caramel double chocolate cheesecake which was better than an orgasm. It isn't far-fetched to think that Jack is hard while he sits at his desk drinking Ianto's special coffee.

She reminds herself not to check where Ianto is, or where Jack's hands are, when he gets his special mug. In fact -- Tosh sets the new program to compile, knowing she could speed the damn thing up so it takes only an hour. Instead she leaves it compiling at normal speeds, something which will take most of the morning. She grabs her handbag and stands, announcing to the room and no one that she is going for a bagel while her computer works and if anyone needs her she has her mobile.

Tosh doesn't look back to see if anyone notices she's gone. When she reaches the Plass she heads, not for the bakery, but for the corner. The bus comes quickly and three stops down she is at the tiny French cafe where there will be thick, hot espresso and a slice of caramel double chocolate cheesecake, and she will sit at the window and watch people go by and search for those walking alone.


End file.
